Holiday Sales Results
To report on 2025 retail holiday sales, please provide us with your sales gain/loss numbers as compared to last holiday season.
The Disappearing Penny & the Switch to Rounding Cash Transactions
With the U.S. Mint ceasing penny production last year, pennies are now harder and harder to come by. RAM members and retailers nationwide are now moving toward rounding cash transactions when exact change is unavailable.
The industry continues to advocate for quick passage of the Common Cents Act, legislation that will allow cash transactions to be rounded up or down to the nearest five cents and is expected to include important standard rounding guidance and preemption of any law that may be in conflict.
On December 23rd, the U.S. Treasury posted the following update: “Penny Production Cessation FAQs”. The update cites a report from the National Council of State Legislators with recommended rounding guidance:
“The most recommended form of rounding is symmetrical rounding whereby if the final digit of the total transaction amount (including taxes) is 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents, the amount is rounded down to the nearest multiple of five. If the final digit is 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents, the amount is rounded up. Transactions totaling exactly $0.01 or $0.02 might be rounded up to $0.05. Rounding rules would not apply to payments made via electronic methods, checks, gift cards, or other non-cash instruments.”
As we await formal federal or state action and (hopefully) a standardized national rounding rule, RAM members are left to implement their own rounding practices. Any member implementing any rounding policy is strongly advised to post conspicuous consumer notice and disclosure of the policy at the point of sale.
MassDEP Explores Lowering Organics/Food Waste Ban Threshold to Zero
The MA Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is exploring the possibility of implementing a total statewide organics waste ban. The ban is being discussed in two potential phases, with the first phase beginning on or after November 1, 2028, and impacting all businesses and commercial entities regardless of size. Phase two would potentially take effect two years later and would apply to all residential food waste as well.
MassDEP first implemented a ban on the disposal of commercial organic waste in 2014, impacting businesses and institutions that generated one ton or more of organic waste per week. That threshold was lowered to a half ton or more on November 1, 2022. Currently, any entity that meets the threshold must donate or re-purpose the useable food, or dispose of via anaerobic digestion (AD), composting or as animal feed.
Information on the existing organics waste ban, including compliance assistance, is available here.
The elimination of the threshold is still in the early stages of discussion before the Organics Subcommittee of the MassDEP Solid Waste Advisory Committee. A presentation of the proposed approach to eliminating the threshold is available here.
RAM will continue to monitor and participate in the DEP SWAC and Subcommittee process as the discussion proceeds.
UPDATE: IRS issues extension of PFML tax ruling
Please be advised that the MA Department of Family and Medical Leave (DFML) will delay its implementation of certain portions of the tax withholding and reporting requirements outlined in IRS Revenue Ruling 2025-4 due to new guidance issued by the IRS. On December 19, 2025, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued IRS Notice 2026-6 which extends the implementation transition period provided to state paid family and medical leave programs and employers for an additional year.
Learn more about how this impacts employers in Massachusetts
